St. Petersburg – Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia joined Russian President Dmitri Medvedev here Friday to formally launch the 2011 Spain-Russia Dual Year, designed to strengthen economic and cultural ties between the two countries.
"Both countries not only wish to give renewed impetus to the great tide of understanding and friendship that has always linked our peoples, but to make clear our shared goal of expanding and deepening bilateral relations," the king said at the inauguration of "The Prado in the Hermitage" exhibition.
Juan Carlos, who met with Medvedev Friday morning, described the Dual Year as a "superb opportunity" for celebrating the "unquestionably fruitful European community."
"Russia and Spain are two countries that are essential for understanding European culture, history and identity," he said at the ceremony in the Throne Room of the Hermitage Museum, once the Winter Palace of the czars.
The exhibition inaugurated Friday will allow the Russian public to enjoy masterpieces of the Prado Museum by such figures as Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Titian and Rubens.
Medvedev, who plans to make his second visit to Spain in November, said that the Dual Year program, with more than 350 commercial, cultural and scientific activities, "opens new possibilities of contact between peoples."
Earlier Friday, the king and Medvedev inaugurated a business forum in which they stressed the potential for cooperation in the field of technological modernization and innovation.
Medvedev said that 2010 saw a growth of bilateral trade, and expressed his wish that it will soon top the $10 billion peak reached before the global economic slump.
The king stressed that Spanish business owners "are wholeheartedly turning to Russia."
In that regard, the president of Spain's CEOE business federation, Juan Rosell, told Efe on Friday that, "after many years, Spain now has the chance to develop projects in Russia on a par with other countries with a strong presence there, such as France and Germany, and we have to take advantage of it."
"Russia and Spain each has one foot in Europe and the other in the world, and as global players they have an enormous potential for cooperation," said Antonio Brufau, CEO of Spanish energy giant Repsol YPF.
Spain's king subsequently went to the Konstantinovsky Palace, on the outskirts of the city, to meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
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